Brawn & Haug pay tribute to Schumacher

With the news regarding Lewis Hamilton's arrival at Mercedes for 2013, seven-time F1 world champion Michael Schumacher's career is left in limbo.

After dominating the sport for so long with Ferrari, the German returned to Formula One three years ago to team up once again with Mercedes and Ross Brawn.

But the driver that was being debated as one of the best of all time, after breaking nearly every record that there was to be broken couldn't rediscover his previous form.

A glimpse of the old magic was shown around Monaco earlier this year, but in a twist that sums up his 'second career' in Formula One, his best time in qualifying would not see him return to the front of the grid for the race as he had to take a five-place grid penalty for a previous misdemeanour in the a past race.

The upcoming Japanese Grand Prix will see him take a ten-place grid penalty for crashing into Jean-Eric Vergne in Singapore, but whilst the race performances have been a big disappointment for Schumacher, his efforts in the garage have been praised by his team.

“His energy and commitment have never wavered, even when results have not matched our own expectations, and we are determined to finish the 2012 season together on a high, As always, it has been a pleasure to work with Michael.” team principal Ross Brawn told formula1.com.

Vice President of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport Norbert Haug added: “Over the past three years, Michael has been a great driver and an exemplary ambassador for Mercedes AMG Petronas. His experience has been an important factor in guiding the development of our team in Brackley and we extend our sincere thanks to Michael for his loyalty, team play and commitment.”

With his future unclear, Schumacher resisted the chance to put the record straight over his plans for 2013 and simply wished the team and Lewis Hamilton well for the future: I have had three nice years with the team which unfortunately did not go as well as we all would have wanted on the sporting side, I wish Lewis well and for the team to achieve the success we worked so hard for in the build-up. I would like to thank the team for their trust and all the guys for their unconditional commitment. I will now concentrate on the next races.”